The expansion of neutral gas in an open-ended cylindrical chamber into a large vacuum facility is investigated to understand neutral particle density distribution. The cylindrical chamber geometry with a single on-axis gas injection port is representative of a helicon plasma source discharge chamber. The neutral gas pressure profile along the cylinder wall is experimentally measured for argon and xenon mass flow rates of 0–200 sccm, at facility pressures up to and and torr Xe, respectively. The average relative error between the experimentally measured pressure profiles and the numerical results obtained with a direct simulation Monte Carlo code is less than 10%, with the maximum relative error below 30%. The single on-axis injection port into the cylindrical discharge chamber results in a nonuniform neutral particle density distribution in the source due to the recirculation zone generated in the rear of the discharge chamber. This highlights the potential impact of the propellant injection system design on the neutral particle depletion phenomenon in helicon plasma sources.
Neutral Gas Expansion in a Cylindrical Helicon Discharge Chamber
Journal of Propulsion and Power ; 29 , 3 ; 540-546
2013-04-05
7 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Neutral Gas Expansion in a Cylindrical Helicon Discharge Chamber
Online Contents | 2013
|Testing a Helicon Double Layer Thruster Immersed in a Space-Simulation Chamber
Online Contents | 2008
|SUPERCONDUCTING HELICON THRUSTER
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010
|Superconducting Helicon Thruster
AIAA | 2010
|